Range exhaust systems installed in conjunction with cooking ranges generally include a range hood and exhaust flue, and are used to draw smoke, odor, grease, and other types of cooking effluent away from a cooking surface. In drawing the effluent away from the cooking range, the grease and other substances accumulate on the surfaces of the hood and exhaust flue. The surfaces of the cooking range exhaust, when covered in accumulated cooking effluent, are therefore a significant fire hazard because grease and other highly flammable effluent are retained near the hot cooking area.
Because of the significant fire danger involved in cooking below accumulated grease and other cooking effluent in a cooking range exhaust, the surfaces of the range hood and flue must be cleaned regularly. However, cleaning the exhaust flue and the backsplash in the range hood is particularly difficult due to the confined, remote area involved. For this reason, restaurants with cooking areas having such cooking range exhausts clean these difficult to reach portions of the cooking range exhaust periodically. Cleaning of these difficult to reach areas can be costly, messy, and can require closure of the kitchen during the cleaning process.